Letter from Washington

Primary fallout: Among Democrats, the stories are flying about the bad blood between Jerry Brown and Jimmy Carter, and neither attempts to refute them. During the California campaign, Brown made fun of Carter’s smile and assailed him, ironically enough, for fuzziness on the issues. Carter, in turn, derided Brown’s “Zen Buddhist logic.” Part of the problem, many believe, is the inability of each to accept the other’s sincerity. Brown, whose roots lie in the upper-middle-class semi-counterculture of northern California, where fundamentalist Christianity is considered Neanderthal, sees in Carter a strong strain of Elmer Gantryism. And Carter, a true believer, is deeply suspicious of the California new consciousness, with its preoccupation with mysticism and Oriental religions. There are also profound political reasons for the mutual distaste. Carter sees Brown, alone among the Democrats, as a potential rival somewhere down the line, while Brown views Carter as a major obstacle. Brown is an enormously ambitious man, say intimates; he has rapidly established himself as a national figure. But if Carter wins in November, the betting is that he’ll occupy the White House for two full terms. Thus Brown, interested in neither a Cabinet post nor the Senate, will have eight years in which to age and stew in Sacramento. This worries Carter supporters, who point out that it is dangerous to keep a national figure simmering. They remember-another Jesuitical politician, Eugene McCarthy, who was alienated early on by Lyndon Johnson. Later, when the going got rough for Johnson, McCarthy returned to haunt him.

Newsmen covering Carter believe that Mayor Daley’s post-Ohio endorsement, which started the Carter bandwagon on its final surge, was a bit less than spontaneous. There was always something suspicious, they maintain, about the way in which Carter carefully avoided offending Daley during the Illinois primary. And Daley, they note, was equally careful not to contest Carter’s delegates. A deal in the best tradition of the old politics was struck between Daley and Carter, they believe, and the odds are that an offer of the Vice Presidency to Mayor Daley’s favorite son, Adlai Stevenson III, was part of that deal.

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Presidential Election

Primary fallout: Among Democrats, the stories are flying about the bad blood between Jerry Brown and Jimmy Carter, and neither attempts to refute them. During the California campaign, Brown made fun of Carter’s smile and assailed him, ironically enough, for fuzziness on the issues. Carter, in turn, derided Brown’s “Zen Buddhist logic.” Part of the problem, many believe, is the inability of each to accept the other’s sincerity. Brown, whose roots lie in the upper-middle-class semi-counterculture of northern California, where fundamentalist Christianity is considered Neanderthal, sees in Carter a strong strain of Elmer Gantryism. And Carter, a true believer, is deeply suspicious of the California new consciousness, with its preoccupation with mysticism and Oriental religions. There are also profound political reasons for the mutual distaste. Carter sees Brown, alone among the Democrats, as a potential rival somewhere down the line, while Brown views Carter as a major obstacle. Brown is an enormously ambitious man, say intimates; he has rapidly established himself as a national figure. But if Carter wins in November, the betting is that he’ll occupy the White House for two full terms. Thus Brown, interested in neither a Cabinet post nor the Senate, will have eight years in which to age and stew in Sacramento. This worries Carter supporters, who point out that it is dangerous to keep a national figure simmering. They remember-another Jesuitical politician, Eugene McCarthy, who was alienated early on by Lyndon Johnson. Later, when the going got rough for Johnson, McCarthy returned to haunt him.

Newsmen covering Carter believe that Mayor Daley’s post-Ohio endorsement, which started the Carter bandwagon on its final surge, was a bit less than spontaneous. There was always something suspicious, they maintain, about the way in which Carter carefully avoided offending Daley during the Illinois primary. And Daley, they note, was equally careful not to contest Carter’s delegates. A deal in the best tradition of the old politics was struck between Daley and Carter, they believe, and the odds are that an offer of the Vice Presidency to Mayor Daley’s favorite son, Adlai Stevenson III, was part of that deal.